Mayiladuthurai Villupuram rail route to re-open today

Chozhan Express to run on this route before end of April
One other passenger train to run between Thanjavur and Chennai Egmore

RENOVATION WORK AT MAYILADUTHURAI STATION

After four long years of wait, the 122 kms rail route between Villupuram and Mayiladuthurai will re-open this evening(23rd April 2010) with a passenger train that will leave Villupuram Junction at 620pm. The train will reach Mayliduthurai at 10.10pm tonight.

I had written in December 2009 that the rail route was unlikely to resume before Summer 2010, even though there were widespread reports that the rail route will become operational by Pongal 2010.
(http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2009/12/chennai-mayavaram-railway-line-delayed.html)
(http://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2009/02/chennai-mayavaram-railway-route.html)

Two way services between Mayiladuthurai and Villupuram are likely to commence tomorrow morning.

Contrary to reports in leading Tamil daily Dinamalar(which has incidentally played a stellar role in showcasing, over the last 2-3years, the need for the fast completion of the broad gauge conversion) that featured this morning, the passenger train that was scheduled to start at 6am this morning has not taken off.

High Court DirectionAfter several lame excuses, this last minute effort by the railways is in line with the Madras High Court order last month (March 23,2010) which directed the railways to start operations on the Mayavaram-Villupuram rail route within a month. The deadline ends today and hence the plan to run the passenger train today.

Highly placed sources in the railways confirmed that 2 other trains including one Express train are likely to run on this route before the end of this month.

Chozhan ExpressThe once popular Chozhan Express between Chennai Egmore and Tiruchirapalli Junction and another popular passenger train between Thanjavur and Chennai Egmore is likely to become operational within the next 10days,bringing the much needed relief to passengers in the Mayiladuthurai, Seerkazhi and Chidambaram.

As mentioned earlier in this blog, there are a number of temples in the Mayiladuthurai/Seerkazhi belt as well as an important Sea Port in Cuddalore and an Educational Institution in Chidambaram.

Seerkazhi Station
The re-opening of day train and a night express on the Villupuram- Mayiladuthurai route will be welcome relief for travellers on this route especially during this summer vacation where the crowd is expected to jump many-fold.

LATE EVENINNG ANNOUNCEMENT
Southern Railway has this evening announced that Chennai-Nagore Night Exp and Chennai-Trichy Day Exp(both daily trains) will become operational from tomorrow 24th April.

Also, Chennai-Madurai bi weekly express will start operating from this weekend while Varanasi Rameswaram weekly express will start operating from the next weekend (2nd May).

This is likely to greatly facilitate travel between Chennai -Mayavaram/Kumbakonam/Thanjavur.

It remains to be seen if Rockfort express will be brought back to its original route Chennai-Trichy(for the last few years, the train has been running upto Kumbakonam). There are differing views on whether it should continue to run up to Kumbakonam. One will have to wait and watch Southern Railway's action on this front.